A portrait of a woman painted by Jimmie Jones in Mexico. Professor James Aton said Jones spent 14 winters in Mexico painting portraits before switching to landscapes.

Written by

Josh Huntsman
| jhuntsman@thespectrum.com

The late Jimmie Jones, a Cedar City painter best known for his landscape paintings of Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, is the subject of a book being written by James Aton, a professor of English at Southern Utah University.

Aton, who was friends with Jones before the artist's death on Dec. 5, 2010, is hoping residents in Southern Utah can assist him in documenting and recording Jones' prolific number of paintings created over the artist's 49-year career.

"(Jones) estimated that he painted about 1,400 (paintings) in his life and I've found about 300 so far," Aton said. "But I know there ...